A blog about my adventures as a professional garden writer, radio show host and obsessive veggie gardener! My first book, the award-winning, The Year Round Vegetable Gardener, was published in 2012 and Groundbreaking Food Gardens hit shelves in March 2014!

Flowers

Pages

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Another great garden!

Who says that you need a huge garden to grow veggies? You can grow veggies in a windowbox, large container, hanging basket or even a compact garden like Faye and Yvon.. Shade is a huge issue for Faye, so she has placed her garden by the road (a great way to inspire the neighbourhood!) and grows a mix of her favourite crops.. She even has a potato bin, where she grows a bushel of potatoes! As the plants grow, she continues to fill up the bin and when it's time to harvest, she simply undoes the bin and the harvest spills out - fun and simple!

Now that it's early July, it's time to put in a fall crop of peas - I just planted mine yesterday. I choose a short-season type - Green Arrow, which matures in just 58 days. It's my first time growing this variety, but the pickings were slim at the garden centre! I guess that's why it pays to think ahead and order your mid-summer and fall crops when you place your spring seed order.. oops!

I also did a major clean out of the garden beds yesterday - between the rain - and planted more carrots (3 types - Purple Haze, Atomic Red and Napoli), arugula, bush beans and mizuna! There are still so many more things to plant for fall/winter, but I need to make more space.. I harvested all the Chinese Cabbage yesterday (there were just 5 large heads) and cleaned them and put them in the fridge for this week.. Yummy!

Well, it's almost time for the radio show, so I better head out! I hope you'll join me today - we have some great guests - Sonia Day, the author of Incredible Edibles - 43 Fun Things to Grow in the City (3 copies to give away!), Patricia Bishop of Taproot Farms (http://taprootfarms.blogspot.com).. Patricia and her hubby Josh Oulton won the Atlantic Canadian Outstanding Young Farmers Award for 2010 and they'll be heading to Victoria BC in December to compete nationally! Plus, they offer weekly food boxes and they are offering a bunch of jam/canning/tomato sauce/salsa/pesto workshops this summer/fall.. Also, Bill and Sharon from the Willow Garden! They'll tell us about their amazing garden and offer advice on growing rhododendrons! Phew.. hope you'll join me..

You may as well relax and have fun with it because it makes for better listening anyways.I suppose it would be better not to have those surprises,but listeners generally want you to do well. I love it when callers phone you.It is a good opportunity to learn.

Great show today Niki. We know Sharon and Bill and they are as generous as they are knowledgable.Their garden is well worth a visit and the welcome mat is always out. We have some lovely gifts in our garden from them.Loved Sonia Day also.Did she once write a funny articles for Canadian Gardening?The couple from Taproot Farms are remarkable. Can't wait to hear who you will have as guests next week.Donna

Thanks for the kind words Donna - the show had a few glitches today, but it's all fun! In the first season I would have been more freaked out, but now, I just go with the flow! :) Sharon was very knowledgeable - and sweet! it was fun and I learned a lot! I don't know if Sonia wrote humourous articles, but I wouldn't be surprised as she was very funny! Talk soon! Niki